The present invention relates to systems and methods for forming, updating and using databases that contain geographic data that are used in computing platforms, such as navigation systems, that provide navigation-related features or services.
Navigation-related functions are provided on various different computer platforms. For example, navigation-related functions can be provided from standalone systems or networked systems. In a standalone navigation system, the software applications, geographic data, and hardware are combined at a single location. A standalone system may be installed in a vehicle or carried by a person. In a networked navigation system, some of the software or geographic data are located with the hardware with the user and some of the software or geographic data are located remotely and accessed over a communications system. Navigation-related functions are provided by systems implemented on dedicated platforms in which the hardware and software are specifically designed for navigation purposes. Alternatively, systems that provide navigation-related features can be implemented on general purpose computing platforms (such as personal computers, personal digital assistants, or networked computers) using appropriate software applications and data.
Dedicated navigation systems and general purpose computing platforms that run navigation applications (hereinafter referred to collectively as “navigation systems”) provide a variety of useful features and services. For example, navigation systems used in vehicles can provide detailed instructions for driving to desired destinations thereby reducing travel times and expenses. Navigation systems and navigation applications can also search for businesses of a desired type and provide routing guidance to locations of such businesses. Navigation systems and navigation applications can also incorporate real-time traffic information. Navigation systems and applications may also be used by operators of vehicle fleets, such as trucking companies, package delivery services, and so on.
One consideration associated with navigation systems is that geographic data used by the navigation systems become out-of-date. For example, new roads are built, businesses change locations, road construction closes roads, detours are established, museum and restaurant hours change, etc. It is expected that end users, such as vehicle owners who have navigation systems in their vehicles, will want to have the geographic data in their navigation systems updated from time to time.
One way to provide a navigation system user with updated geographic data is to replace the entire geographic database used by a navigation system with a new version containing new, updated data. A consideration with this approach is that a relatively large portion of the data in the new geographic database will be the same as the data in the older version and therefore will not need to have been replaced.
Another way to provide navigation system users with updated geographic data is to provide the user with only the updated data and provide a mechanism whereby the updated data can be applied to the old geographic database. Embodiments for incrementally updating a geographic database are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,113, Ser. No. 10/201,098, filed Jul. 23, 2002 and Ser. No. 10/304,229 filed Nov. 26, 2002, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein.
Although the embodiments disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,113, Ser. No. 10/201,098, and Ser. No. 10/304,229 are satisfactory, there continues to be room for further advancement. Accordingly, there exists a need for a way to provide for updating a geographic database used in a navigation system.